Dream Within a Dream
by Celery Sticks
Summary: In which there is kissing, a floater, and grey sweatpants. Not necessarily in that order.


At first, Piper didn't realize she was dreaming. She was still in her room, still in her lab, and the furniture was silent. Usually when she dreamed, she would have avid conversations with her furniture: almost always about her latest crystal experiments. They could become rather heated discussions, actually. She was in her regular pajamas too, the old grey training pants and loose white tank. Not quite whimsical enough to equate to a dream.

But when she left the little alcove she called her bedroom, stepped into her crystal lab and saw Cyclonis, she knew she had to have left reality at some point during the night.

The Master stood with her back to Piper; her hood was up and the imperial robes fell around her in a great wave of inky black. A pale hand rested on the counter of Piper's desk, the other played absentmindedly with the floater crystal Piper always kept there, Heaven knows why. It's not like it made a very good paper weight.

"It's been awhile, my friend." The hairs on the back of Piper's neck rose and shivered as though alive, and as the uncomfortable feeling traveled southward down her spine she wondered briefly, even if this was a dream, what was the young empress doing here?

"I thought I'd pay you a visit; it's been so long since we last talked, after all." Orange eyes narrowed as the black hood unfurled with a sickening, sliding noise reminiscent of exposed muscle being released from rigor mortis…

Piper frowned and shook her head in an attempt to clear that disgusting image from her mind. It didn't work.

"Something wrong?"

Glancing up again, Piper was met with the cool stare of a single, amethyst eye ringed with sleepless nights and long hours hunched over brightly shining crystals of every size and purpose. The selfish thought that her own eyes never looked that sickly flitted through her head, before being crushed by more intelligent mind flow that reminded Piper the young woman before her had an entire empire to run and not just a group of immature young boys to look after.

But then she wondered why she cared. And then she wondered why she was wondering so much, and decided that now would be a good time to speak. Tossing her head and placing a hand on her hip, Piper spoke.

"Just wondering why there's an evil empress standing in my crystal lab, playing with my floater." The eye disappeared for a moment, surely looking back at the light blue floater, for the pale hand had retracted somewhat as though Cyclonis had only now realized what she'd been doing. Then it was back, and the other eye followed as Master Cyclonis turned around to regard her rival.

Her gaze traveled from the floor upwards, stopping for a moment at Piper's neck (where her crystal necklace usually hung), and continuing up to look her full in the eye. To the Storm Hawk's credit, she didn't flinch or look away. Maybe because this was just a dream and she felt braver than she usually did when in the presence of Master Cyclonis.

The Master cocked her head to the side, and her eyes flitted downward once more (farther south this time). What she said next made Piper's jaw go slack with shock.

"…How are you?"

This was by far one of the weirdest dreams she'd ever had, even stranger than the time she'd dreamed Stork and Finn were trapped in the left engine pod and needed her to find Radarr because only he could defeat the Engine Princess and set them free. And that was only after she'd eaten Junko's cooking. But honestly, dreaming about herself (in her pajamas first of all) in her crystal lab, having polite conversation with a Master Cyclonis that may or may not be checking her out? Too weird.

"Uh… I don't… wha?" Cyclonis' shoulders rose in a half-chuckle as she continued to stare, unblinking.

"Odd, I remember you being a bit more articulate than this-" Black brows furrowed as Cyclonis suddenly cut off, glancing at the floor for a moment before shooting back up to Piper's face in a most accusatory manner. Piper glared back, ashamed of herself for being so afraid. The Master had taken a step towards her and she'd instinctively taken a step back, not even realizing she'd done so until she saw the hauntingly beautiful eyes before her cloud over with what was almost hurt. Almost, because even if she was dreaming this was Master Cyclonis, and Master Cyclonis didn't feel hurt.

That's what Piper told herself, at least.

"You never cease to amaze me." Suddenly hands were on her shoulders and she was pulled backwards, flush against the very thin frame of a very pale girl. "It seems you don't even need to use words to make me angry!" The bitterness in the other's voice matched the sharp press of black nails against her skin, but a quick jab with her elbow relieved Piper of that discomfort and forced the oxygen from Cyclonis' lungs. Piper pulled away as her rival gasped for air, reestablishing the space between them.

"Yeah? Well same here! Now why exactly _are_ you here anyway? What kind of dream is this?"

"Dream? What are you talking about, this isn't a dream! You're awake!" Piper felt her eyes go wide as she stared down at the most dangerous person in all of Atmos, her hands falling from their defensive Sky Fu stance to hang uselessly in the air. "…What?"

Cyclonis stared at her angrily, teeth bared in an animalistic grimace. "You're awake you fool, this is all real! _I'm _real!" And then she lunged at Piper who, still lost in confusion, was blindsided. Before she knew it, she was on the floor, the cold steel much less pleasant on her skin than the previous body heat of the girl above her. Piper didn't quite register that thought completely, as she was still in the throes of shock. But as the shock began to give way to newer sensations, she became distinctly aware of the vice-like grip Cyclonis had on her wrists and the warmth of the other girl's breath fanning her face.

Looking up into the eyes of the enemy, Piper was surprised by the fierceness and intensity of Cyclonis' stare. It was an odd combination: fear clenching in the pit of her stomach and warmth rising rapidly in her cheeks. And when those deep, angry eyes left hers for a moment, flitting down and then back up, the heat began to overcome the fear.

But now it seemed that it was the Master who was at a loss for words. "I… ah, that is…"

The grip on her wrists loosened a fraction, and it was enough for Piper's instincts to kick in as she turned the tables and switched their positions. Master Cyclonis stared up at her in shock, before hissing in frustration. "Have I ever told you that I really do detest this Sky Fu of yours?"

"No, but I can see why. But you know what they say, 'if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen'." Cyclonis snorted in a most unladylike fashion, and Piper was tempted to stick her tongue out for a moment. Just a moment.

"Please my dear, we've barely hit lukewarm. If you want to see heat, then you'll release me immediately or…" A vicious grin spread across Cyclonis' face, "Perhaps we could try something a little different this time."

Piper cocked a brow. "What're you-" But then she couldn't speak, for the lips of her most hated enemy were on hers. And naturally, you can't speak when you're being kissed. All thought fled Piper's head as her grip on the other girl slackened and her eyes slid shut. She certainly didn't kiss back, but she didn't pull away, and that seemed to be enough for Cyclonis. Piper felt the other girls arms trace hers up along past her shoulders and around her neck. She tensed, waiting to find out that this was just a trick, just a tactic to distract her so the Master could escape.

But when Cyclonis did make her move, it wasn't to strangle the Storm Hawk or send her flying across the room, but to simply reclaim her position on top. The pale hands retracted and repositioned themselves, one bracing it's owner against the floor, and the other coming to rest on Piper's cheek.

And when Piper began to kiss back, Cyclonis moaned against her.

But then she pulled back, her eyes still shut, and rested her forehead against her fellow crystal mage's. Piper's own tangerine eyes opened, waiting for something… anything, because she had no idea what was supposed to come next. She shivered as her name passed those cold lips, and Cyclonis' eyes gradually opened.

"You are dreaming."

And then Piper was back in her bed, breathing heavily, sheets clenched between her fingers. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair as she tried to remember what her dream was about. The harder she tried, the darker her mind became until finally she gave up and lay back down. She stared up at the ceiling and wondered about the only thing she seemed to recall from her dream.

The taste of ice.

Slowly, she drifted away… this time into a dreamless sleep.

And far away in Cyclonia, in the royal bedchambers, another girl sat awake savoring the memory she'd created between Piper and herself. Fully confident in the fact that Piper would never recall what had transpired between them that night, Master Cyclonis leaned back against her pillow with a contented smile on her face.

Maybe next time, she'd try it for real, outside the realm of dreams.


End file.
